John Adams bust.

John Adams Fort Bust

The coastal fort that defended Narragansett Bay from English privateers and French pirates was named in honor of then-President John Adams on July 4, 1799. In 1934 a captain at the Fort, Elliott R. Thorpe, had the idea to erect a statue of Adams on its grounds. The WPA supplied some money, and sculptor Gerald Brooks Denison created a bronze Adams head that sits atop a pedestal of bricks near the entrance to the fort's little cemetery. Green with age, the head is very much alone in an otherwise empty field.

Fort Adams is now a state park and the site of the annual Newport Jazz festival. Thorpe went on to become an Army attache in Java, and tried to warn his superiors of the impending attack on Pearl Harbor, but was ignored.

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John Adams Fort Bust

Fort Adams State Park

Address:: 80 Fort Adams Drive, Newport, RI
Directions:: Outdoors, but within the enclosed yard of Fort Adams, on the northeast side.
Hours:: Daily 8-4. Gated after hours. (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
Phone:: 401-847-2400

Nearby Offbeat Places

The Feet and the Wave, Newport, RI - 1 mi.

Bronze Organ Grinder and Monkey, Newport, RI - 1 mi.

JFK's Rejected Grave Slab, Newport, RI - 1 mi.

In the region:

World's 2nd Largest Rotating Globe, Wellesley, MA - 57 mi.

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